Podcasts about watchman monitoring

A Journey Through Mac Support with Tim Nyberg In this episode of Command Control Power, hosts welcome Tim Nyberg of The Mac Guys + as he shares his extensive journey in Mac support, starting back in the early 90s. Tim recounts his early fascination with technology, from overclocking a Commodore 64 to managing the first round of Macintosh computers at his college newspaper. He provides insights into the evolution of Mac operating systems and the challenges of adapting to new technologies over decades. Tim also discusses the benefits and intricacies of running a remote support business, the importance of client engagement, and efficient business operations. The conversation explores tools like Addigy, RepairShopper, and Watchman Monitoring, touching on security practices and the need for comprehensive and affordable security audits for clients. The episode offers valuable lessons on adapting to technological changes, maintaining client relationships, and optimizing remote IT support.   Introduction and Welcome   Tim's Early Tech Adventures College Days and Early Mac Experiences Evolution of Design Software SCSI Troubles and Early Mac Troubleshooting Transition to OS X Staying Current in Tech Remote Work and Tools   Client Engagement Strategies Streamlining Remote Work The Pros and Cons of Repair Shopper Exploring Alternatives to Repair Shopper The Value of Community in Tech Tools Balancing Business and Lifestyle   Security Audits and Tools Reflections on the Tech Industry Closing Thoughts and Future Plans

In this episode of Command Control Power, the hosts discuss leveraging Addigy to replicate some features of Watchman Monitoring, particularly focusing on business efficiency. Jerry initiates the topic by sharing his experience of transitioning from Watchman to Addigy due to development and costs. He highlights the useful features of Addigy, such as disk space alerts, and its Zendesk integration, while also acknowledging the development effort required to fully replace Watchman's reporting and alerting capabilities. The conversation includes a brief discussion on alternative tools like Malwarebytes. Additionally, the hosts reflect on client management challenges, specifically in dealing with tech support scams and rogue banking interactions. They close with a note on experimenting with social media marketing for new client acquisition.   00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview 00:05 Exploring Addigy and Watchman Monitoring 00:59 Jerry's Experience with Watchman Monitoring 02:15 Support Menu and Deployment 04:01 Evaluating Watchman Monitoring Features 04:29 Transitioning from Watchman to Addigy 04:50 Addigy Integration and Alternatives 11:59 PC Management Solutions 17:43 Reporting and Visualization Tools 30:31 Virtual Happy Hour Begins 30:42 Client's Printer Troubles 32:04 Remote Access Issues 32:56 Bank Troubles and Security Concerns 41:34 Keyboard and Mouse Mysteries 45:05 Marketing Experiment Results 49:28 Concluding Thoughts and Patreon Plug

It's just us again, and that means we're talking about everything going on right now. Layoffs, new hardware, Ventura and Deferrals, and then Passkeys, Hardware Tokens and Apple IDs, and more. Hosts: Tom Bridge, Principal Product Manager, JumpCloud – @tbridge777 Charles Edge, CTO, Bootstrappers.mn – @cedge318 Marcus Ransom, Senior Sales Engineer, Jamf – @marcusransom Links: What explains recent tech layoffs, and why should we be worried? | Stanford News MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch – Tech Specs – Apple Mac mini – Technical Specifications – Apple HomePod – Apple Kensington Locking Kit for Mac Studio – Apple Sponsors: Patreon Sponsors: The Mac Admins Podcast has launched a Patreon Campaign! Our named patrons this month include: Rick Goody, Mike Boylan, Melvin Vives, William (Bill) Stites, Anoush d'Orville, Jeffrey Compton, M.Marsh, Hamlin Krewson, Adam Burg, A.J. Potrebka, James Stracey, Timothy Perfitt, Nate Cinal, William O'Neal, Sebastian Nash, Command Control Power, Stephen Weinstein, Chad Swarthout, Daniel MacLaughlin, Justin Holt, William Smith, and Weldon Dodd Mac Admins Podcast Community Calendar, Sponsored by Watchman Monitoring

Topics: -Sam talks about his recovery from Covid. -Some personal experiences and opinions are shared. -Joe shares a sneak peak of an offering for Patrons. A Numbers based tool based on Watchman Monitoring reports with customized output. -What monthly MSP plan works for you? Do monthly services work for residential clients? -Jerry has abandoned the “monitoring only” approach since most clients ignored the alerts. -Raising rates. Is it the right time or the wrong time? -How do your phrase a rate change to clients?

Topics: -Joe has an update on using his new Synology with Synlogy Central Management System. After digging around with notifications, he was frustrated. Thanks to Dan Monge of Mac IT Pros for the tip to look at the client Synology notifications as there is an additional CMS column. -PsiMac charges a monthly service fee for network management. -“Don't be afraid to charge the client” -Jerry Zigmont -A pesky client calls Jerry multiple times as he racking up his Smith.ai bill. -Someone that needed help and Joe spent some time diagnosing, decides to try and migrate data on her 10 year old computer on her own. -Jerry expresses concerns about working with customers that have 10 year old equipment and the risks that come with it. -For new clients, Joe standardizes on getting a system report from Watchman Monitoring. -PSA - BackBlaze keeps your historical data for only 30 days by default. -Keeping old hardware for cost saving reasons can end up costing people in the end as the labor to upgrade can be extended due to aging equipment. -Joe brings up finding better ways to manage automatic updates across different hardware/software. -UniFi updates seem to handle rolling updates well.

Thank you to our VIP sponsors! Special Thanks to our friends: Topics: -This week we welcome Dan Monge of Monge IT Consulting / Mac IT Pros -In addition to running his business, Dan works with Watchman Monitoring in a variety of capacities. -We have our usual Watchman discussion where we discuss use cases and helpful tips. -Joe installs Watchman on his company computers as well, to keep tabs on the health of his equipment. -Dan adds “Connect to Server” shares to make it easier for users to mount network volumes. -Dan focuses on businesses only and refers any residential referrals to a fellow consultant. Dan & Jerry talk about the fall of Google Ads and being mistaken for Apple. -Another hat tip to our friends at TidBITS Content Network. -smith.ai chat feature has really helped Jerry for no additional cost. -Zendesk has a chat feature that Sam has put to use. -What is chaff? Is it champing or chomping at the bit? -The group discusses failed (or were they?) marketing ideas. -Do you still use business cards? -Company shirts and branded equipment gets noticed. -Dan tries to convince Joe to move away from hourly to monthly plans. -In Dan's parting words, he encourages listeners to become patrons.

Thank you to our VIP sponsors! Special Thanks to our friends: Topics: -Joe ponders the question, what about requiring a monthly plan? -Everyone debates the merits of a managed services only approach. -One of Jerry's customers mistakenly deleted mass amounts of Gmail data synced with Apple Mail. Retrieval wasn't a simple solution due to how Google “labels” items in comparison to folders in Apple Mail. -One of Tim's clients that stored everything in Apple Mail had a catastrophic issue. -Is Apple Mail a professional mail client? The ongoing debate continues. -Backupify offers native server side backups for Google and Microsoft 365.  -Backblaze affiliate accounts can be an additional revenue stream for consultants. -Alerting customers to issues that come from services like Watchman Monitoring is one thing. But getting them to take action is another.

Topics: -Tim Nyberg joins us as a guest co-host -Half of Tim's small business clients have either gone away or gone out of business. -Tim had to adjust his business to being a “one man show” again. -The stress of letting people go is tough for any business owner. -Joe's latest newsletter impresses Jerry. -The frequency of newsletters and their purpose is debated and discussed. -Infusionsoft is Tim's CRM. He uses RepairShopr as well. -Another consideration is the ratio of educational vs marketing newsletters. -Naturally, the conversation begins to shift to sole proprietors vs a small business with employees. -What questions are you trying to answer in your business model? -Joe talks about how he used to carry RAM in his bag when he visited clients. -The Personal Support Plan by Watchman Monitoring was the spark for some consultancies using the MSP model. -As we discuss the age old question of charging for Watchman Monitoring, Jerry has gone the route of moving clients to a larger package to include Addigy MDM as well. 

Thank you to our VIP sponsors! Special Thanks to our friends: Topics: -Joe starts with a classic Watchman Monitoring corner. He uses the volumes plugin to view storage history.  -For producing a heat map, Sam uses a tool called NetSpot.  -Domotz gets another shoutout from Jerry for network monitoring and reporting.  -While we sing the praises of Watchman Monitoring, Sam has a difficult experience dealing with an Eero Pro account. -One of Joe’s clients took it upon themselves to use the LAN port on their gateway to plug in a computer. -Joe talks about opportunities like this to sell IT management services.  -Some clients will use buzz words that they hear to sound like they know more than they do.  -Jerry is going to be first in line Elon Musk’s Starlink space internet company.  -Jerry has to school another tech in how the MAC address of an external Ethernet adapter can cause trouble with MAC address filtering.  -After pushing Apple Business Manager to a particular client, Sam receives a frustrated response.  -Can you receive text messages via email? Joe talks about “tech articles with fluff”.   

Topics: -Sam is recording from his beach front property -Jerry has the Richard Wingfield starter kit with his goatee.  An homage to our friend and contributor to the show -Joe could not get his janky mic to work moments before recording the show -In a recent trip to the market, Sam loses one of his AirPods while taking off his mask. -While on the topic of AirPods, Jerry has a tip for easily pairing your AirPods with your Mac. An app called ToothFairy: https://c-command.com -Joe has his fancy pants AirPods Pro and shows off the features -We go around the horn to show our threads.  Joe is wearing his company logo, PsiMac.  Jerry is proudly wearing a Watchman Monitoring shirt.  Sam is wearing an Origin84 shirt from listener and friend of the show, Michael Thompsen. -Sam is so far disappointed with the performance of his new MacBook Air.  Jerry wonders if he has too many items on his desktop… -Joe recently purchased a MacBook Air, right before the release of the latest model.  He has an Apple support story with a happy ending. -With regards to the fan issues on the new MacBook Air computers, Joe talks about the limited “thermal headroom”. -Jerry wants us to be guinea pigs to try an app called Turbo Boost, to disable that feature and see if ti helps: http://tbswitcher.rugarciap.com -Sam decided he did not need a MacBook Pro any longer and he is now regretting that decision -Joe asks about screen size and remote access. Jerry & Sam both use accessibility features to zoom in to areas of the remote computer.   -Sam goes commando with his phone and has paid the price.  Jerry wonders about changing the name of the show. -Jerry has been performing a good amount of iMac repairs and upgrades.  In a recent repair job, he suffers damage to the logic board.  He enlists the help of Command Control Power patron, John Moder of Crisp Solutions (http://www.crispsolutions.net).  John puts him in touch with Computer Repair of Des Moines, who performed incredible work to repair the board. -Moving to topics related to the current times, Sam has a direct conversation with his employee about what his comfort level is when it comes to visiting clients.  He also wants to make sure that the company supplies him with anything he needs. -Having similar conversations with clients is also critical to make sure there is no confusion. Especially when they may be paying monthly for a service they expect to receive. -As we all start adjusting to changes while being onsite, Joe watches in shock as other contractors at a client site are being very lax in their approach to safety. -Working in this new remote capacity and essentially making your clients be your onsite hands can be awkward. In addition, it can lead to even more awkward conversations about billing. -Thank you to Justin Esgar, Tim Pearson and the team at ACES!

Topics: -iMac upgrade needed?  No problem!  Or is it?  Jerry has quite the story to tell… -It reminds Joe of a PSA from listener Brandon Walter on episode 273: https://commandcontrolpower.com/podcast/tag/take+control -Supply constraints crossed Joe’s mind as factories and shipping companies are being affected by COVID-19. -Joe wonders about external SSD options as an alternative iMac upgrade.  Jerry & Sam give their two cents. -With so many computers in offices offline, it’s possible to get lazy about your Watchman Monitoring tickets. Stay alert! -“I’m gonna preface this by saying I love my clients.”  -Jerry Zjgmont -Jerry & Joe banter about walking clients through new purchases -For making hardware purchases, Joe tends to lean towards Apple Retail and the custom store portal for ACNs.  Jerry has a good relationship with a reseller in the NY area. -TidBITS Content Network (https://tcn.tidbits.com) content and affiliate links in articles are a dynamic duo to drive quality traffic to your site.

Topics: -We dive right in with Joe telling a story of inadvertently having a client take apart a Magic Mouse.  So she can’t use her computer but she can now use the Zoom app on her iPhone.  So there’s that. -Speaking of Zoom, Jerry has a hell of a time trying to use Group FaceTime with friends.  So they moved to Zoom. -Joe has seen an uptick in work this past week.  Jerry & Sam can’t say the same. -Jerry has an odd issue with a client who lost his admin account on the Mac.  Sam is now his buddy after assisting via Messages. -Another interesting development that Jerry is seeing is people pulling old computers out of the closet to work with.  He is referring all of those clients to PsiMac.  Joe will happily take them. -Live, during the show, we receive word that Jon Brown of Grove Technologies has returned as a VIP sponsor!  Thanks Jon! -Joe asks Sam for some updates on his MSP contract.  He has taken the new approach to itemize all the services he offers.  He also hopes that it provides incentive for clients to inquire about additional services that his company offers. -Sam’s new MSP is going out this week to a potential client -In recent weeks, Joe sent out a newsletter to offer Watchman Monitoring for free to clients.  He provides an update of how clients responded.  Just the information alone that he gathered from Watchman Monitoring allowed the beginning of conversations for possible next steps. -When clients unsubscribe from your newsletter, it can feel personal. -While on the subject of Watchman Monitoring, enrollment codes is a great way to allow self enrollment: Enrollment codes -The Aces Conference: The Prequel is on for May 19-20 and Command Control Power will be participating.  Sign up to be a part of it all! https://acesconf.com/aces-conference-the-prequel/ -And don’t forget, Aces will be in Atlanta in October: https://acesconf.com

Topics: -There is a lull that Joe sees over the last two weeks so he explores an option to offer Watchman Monitoring for his clients free of charge -Jerry goes in depth into his strategy and changes in his process with tools like Watchman Monitoring -Another idea was to change the name of his service, originally called MacWorks Monitoring, to MacWorks Alerts in an effort to make it more friendly to the user. -After a new newsletter and free options for the newly minted service, he received very little response from his clients. -The group at Command Control power wish the group at TidBITS a happy 30th anniversary!  They have provided invaluable information to us and fellow Apple consultants.  If you aren’t already a member of the TidBITS Content Network, consider becoming a member: https://tidbits.com/membership/benefits/ -As Joe asks Sam how his monthly clients have responded, he brings up one particular client that not only was behind on payment, but had their internet service cutoff due to non payment. -Jerry notes that you cannot lean on anyone to sell anything new during this time.  -Sam also adds that it would be good to check on some of your clients on a personal level.  Not everyone gets through this as well as others. -Sam wants to know what people are doing to help their mental and physical health since this can be stressful in many ways -Each of the hosts reveal what they do to keep themselves moving.  Sometimes you need to take your mind off of work, even if business is slow.  -Reallocating newly available time is another concept that we are all needing to grapple with. -Sam has been working on certifications for the Certified Wireless Network Professional: https://lms.cwnp.com -Another item he has been working on is revamping his MSP documentation and moving away from the “magic number” and itemizing services as well as signing up for more partner programs. -What are you working on these days?  CCP wants to know!

Topics: -Sam was on a Zoom conference with family and it could only be described as mayhem -Jerry has a gripe about LinkedIn -Command+Q and remote sessions -Support call experience surveys set Jerry off -Take out precautions as well as any other outside contact is discussed -Joe wanted to know if Sam received responses from his newslette -Sam has concerns about clients that may choose to suspend services, especially as his automated monthly invoices go out. -Although it’s been discussed before Joe starts a dialogue about installing Watchman Monitoring in situations even when clients are not paying for ongoing services -Jerry wonders about the value that clients may comprehend in something like Watchman Monitoring since it often times runs in the background -Jerry’s not looking for trouble -A client facing report is on Jerry’s wish list -Sam gives Joe a shout out for a couple of scripts in Addigy that adjust Watchman Monitoring settings like Time Machine alerts (https://prod.addigy.com/#/macmanage/community/scripts/5ce312c25ff0a156d5654c24) and root capacity warnings (https://prod.addigy.com/#/macmanage/community/scripts/5ce3121c5ff0a156d55446b0) -Watchman can now gather the correct age of a Mac computer since they had to make changes after Apple began randomizing serial numbers -With users working from home, how are backups being handled? -Joe recommends this G-Tech portable drive: https://www.amazon.com/G-Technology-G-Drive-Mobile-Portable-External/dp/B07DK2LPDD/?tag=cmdctrlpwr-20

  Synopsis:   Tania joins the pod to talk about solving problems and /jamf, a Slack app to simplify Mac lookups and troubleshooting.   Your Hosts:   Tom Bridge, Partner, Technolutionary LLC [@tbridge777] Charles Edge [@cedge318] Marcus Ransom, Technical Delivery Manager, CompNow [@marcusransom]   Listen!     News:   Push Diagnostics update - includes checks for required Apple Endpoints Re-enable the startup chime! Apple pushing 1-year certificates   Supporting Sponsors:   Start a 6 week trial by mentioning we sent you!       Patreon Sponsors   The Mac Admins Podcast has launched a Patreon Campaign! Our named patrons this month include Randy Wong, Weldon Dodd, Jonathan Spiva, Justin Holt, Chad Swarthout, William Smith, Stephen Weinstein, Jason Dettbarn, Seb Nash, Will O’Neal, Joe Sfarra and the team at Command Control Power. Thanks everyone!   Mac Admins Podcast Community Calendar, Sponsored by Watchman Monitoring     Conference Sites   Event Name Location Dates MacADUK 2020 The London Film Museum 24-25 March 2020 Japan International Schools Technology Group 2020 Christian Academy in Japan 2-3 April 2020 ACEs Conference ROAM Meeting Space 18-20 May 2020 MacDevOpsYVR 2020 SFU Harbour Centre Vancouver, Canada 10-12 June 2020 Mac Admins Conference Penn Stater Conference Center, State College, PA 21-24 July 2020 MacSysAdmin 2020 Gothenburg, Sweden 6-9 October 2020 JNUC 2020 Hilton San Diego Bayfront 29 September - 1 October 2020   Upcoming Meetups   Event Name Location Dates San Diego Mac Admins UC San Diego Health, 9560 Towne Centre Drive, San Diego, CA. 92121 12 March 2020, 6:00 p.m. PT Univ of Utah MacAdmins Univ of Utah, Marriott Library, 1705a Classroom 18 March 2020, 11:00 a.m. MT MacDMV Spinner's Pinball, Frederick MD 22 March 2020, 1:00 p.m. ET Houston Apple Admins FlightAware 24 March 2020, 05:30 p.m. CT   Sponsor Mac Admins Podcast!   If you're interested in sponsoring the Mac Admins Podcast, please email podcast@macadmins.org for more information.   Social Media   Get the latest about the Mac Admins Podcast, follow us on Twitter! We're @MacAdmPodcast!

  Synopsis:   Aaron joins the pod to talk about GroundControl, an enterprise-grade solution that allows you to Provision, Automate & Secure iOS Devices at Any Scale!   Your Hosts:   Tom Bridge, Partner, Technolutionary LLC [@tbridge777] Charles Edge [@cedge318] Marcus Ransom, Technical Delivery Manager, CompNow [@marcusransom]     Supporting Sponsors:   Start a 6 week trial by mentioning we sent you!     Patreon Sponsors   The Mac Admins Podcast has launched a Patreon Campaign! Our named patrons this month include Randy Wong, Weldon Dodd, Jonathan Spiva, Justin Holt, Chad Swarthout, William Smith, Stephen Weinstein, Jason Dettbarn, Seb Nash, Will O’Neal, Joe Sfarra and the team at Command Control Power. Thanks everyone!   Mac Admins Podcast Community Calendar, Sponsored by Watchman Monitoring     Conference Sites   Event Name Location Dates Cost MacADUK 2020 The London Film Museum 24-25 March 2020 £595 List, £420 Early Bird MacDevOpsYVR 2020 SFU Harbour Centre Vancouver, Canada 10-12 June 2020 CAD$500+ education, CAD$800+ independent, CAD$1000+ corporate Mac Admins Conference Penn Stater Conference Center, State College, PA 21-24 July 2020 Registration opens in March MacSysAdmin 2020 Gothenburg, Sweden 6-9 October 2020   JNUC 2020 Hilton San Diego Bayfront 29 September - 1 October 2020 $1,399 Just in Time, $1,199 Standard, $1,099 Early Bird, $999 Super Early Bird   Sponsor Mac Admins Podcast!   If you're interested in sponsoring the Mac Admins Podcast, please email podcast@macadmins.org for more information.   Social Media   Get the latest about the Mac Admins Podcast, follow us on Twitter! We're @MacAdmPodcast!

Topics: -Not surprisingly, a UniFi topic kicks off the show.  As Jerry rolls his eyes about the UniFi Dream Machine, it appears UniFi has released a rack mountable Dream Machine Pro: https://store.ui.com/products/udm-pro -Joe recounts a story of him installing a Dream Machine and Flex HD https://store.ui.com/products/unifi-dream-machine https://store.ui.com/products/unifi-flexhd -Joe has a PSA  and UniFi best practices to share: Turn off Settings > Site > Uplink Connectivity Monitor (only if no mesh access points in use!). Turn off Settings > Site > Auto-Optimize Network. Turn off Settings > Wireless Networks > SSID > Advanced Options > High Performance Devices.  Modify the DTIM Period?  -Wi-Fi channel management and manual vs automatic is something Sam & Jerry differ on -DHCP vs static vs DHCP reservations.  What do you do? -Joe has a new business idea for an auto power cycling router -The gang jokes about photos clients take and send to help diagnose issues -Sam discovers that you can set up a single UniFi access point without the use of a controller and simply use the app -UniFi “rolling upgrades” via the controller can be confusing, as noted by Joe when doing it recently.  It's mostly been successful, because the Start Rolling Upgrade button is only available when viewing the "Wireless" tab, which only lists the APs – and yet, it includes the switch update as part of it  -Jerry has a client that requires manual firmware of their 16 Ubiquiti UniFi devices using SSH -Zendesk has a great API to use with mail clients so you can quickly change the status of tickets, assign to agents, etc.  Sam discovers this late in the Zendesk game but it has already made him much more efficient dealing with tickets: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203691006-Using-the-Mail-API-to-update-ticket-properties-from-your-inbox -Another PSA from Joe, Apple has begun recycling serial numbers for Mac computers so companies like Watchman Monitoring need a new method of determining the estimated age of a machine. https://beetstech.com/blog/decode-meaning-behind-apple-serial-number https://www.macrumors.com/2020/01/06/apple-randomized-serial-numbers-late-2020/ -Sam has an odd end result when dealing with an old issue of Spotlight being unable to search Outlook emails -The “Focused” email in Outlook can be too easy to click on and confuse the user.  Jerry has seen this all too often.  Joe wants to rename it “randomly hide some of my stuff”. -As the spotlight conversation goes on, Joe mentions a script he created in Addigy to destroy and rebuild the spotlight database: https://prod.addigy.com/#/macmanage/community/scripts/5dddb3325ff0a156d595558d

Topics: -Special thanks to Puelle Design in Portland, Maine for hosting Joe's mobile recording studio this week. -Joe is in the Northeast! He is visiting family for some milestones before heading on the road again -Jerry is in the midst of a move to a new home and new headquarters of MacWorks.  He calls it the reverse Green Acres. -After having a car mishap, Jerry discovers CarPlay in his rental car -A recurring theme for our show has been value based billing and, of course managed services plans.  Joe & Jerry share ideas about their formulas for monthly billing.  Ideas like billing per user or per device, preset hours per month, and services used are among the topics of discussion. -Prepaid discounts are an enticing way for clients to buy in to ongoing services.  “Monthly check-ins” are also something that clients seem to be drawn to. -Do you install Watchman Monitoring on client devices for free as a “loss leader” or break even point?  What happens if you end the relationship? -Jerry has a couple of funny client anecdotes with his classic impersonations -He also has his fair share of gripes -Joe's client had an issue in Calendar on her Mac: "The server responded with an error. There is insufficient storage space for "event title" in "calendar name" in account "iCloud". The choices were Try Again, Ignore, or Revert to Server. He removed a calendar she didn't need that only had a few events on it, and it solved the problem. Then we added a few tests, and she seemed to hit the limit again. We then moved a calendar with a lot of events to a local On My Mac calendar for archival purposes, and instructed the client to move needed events back onto a calendar on the server. Hasn't happened since. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202158

Topics: -Jerry follows up with Joe about clients with monthly plans and miscommunications that can occur -Sam has a story to share about how something related to this occurred to him and he had to rectify this with the client -Using Daylite, Sam now has checks and balances in place to make sure alerts are functioning.  He does this by using the Forms feature for checklists -Jerry also has a similar story to share with a Gmail account that needed security features adjusted.  He also discusses the need to “monitor the monitoring” -VMs need monitoring too!  Joe talks about using Watchman Monitoring on virtual machines -Joe wants an easy ability to view external displays via tools like Watchman Monitoring or Addigy.  It would help when creating specs for a computer upgrade. -Joe continues on his wish list of items to include like mouse battery alerts, applications opened over time, etc. -PSA from Jerry about upgrades.  All consultants with Windows 7 computers should look at upgrading to Windows 10 by January of 2020 -Another tip is an app from Saint Claire Software called Go64.  This will alerts you about apps that are not 64-bit and not ready for macOS 10.15 Catalina https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/index.html -Joe tries to make sense of names listed in ALL CAPS -Sam is put out by a client that shortens all names to one letter initials --What’s worse is people that text Jerry with computer issues and only their number is displayed -Clients that frustrate us make us rethink the relationship.  Joe may have more patience than Jerry in that regard. -Google Chrome’s messaging language is still a source of annoyance for Joe -Always coming back to password management, we discuss phishing attempts in conjunction with old passwords

Topics: -Joe has spent time recently dedicating his focus on Addigy and Watchman Monitoring and understanding how to best leverage those tools -Scripts has been what Joe has been concentrating on and he has found a tremendous amount of help and support through the MacAdmins Slack and the Addigy community - Joe created a script to help ensure your client's Mac fleet gets restarted regularly, according to the best practice you decide. Initial prompt to gently suggest a restart after a "recommended" uptime, default to do nothing if ignored. Second prompt when uptime reaches "preferred", defaulting to gracefully restart if ignored. Final prompt when uptime reaches "limit", defaulting to try a graceful restart and then try a forcible restart if needed. Default values: 7 days, 21 days, 75 days. "I prefer HyperCard" - Joe's script, for Addigy users: Restart Mac per Best Practice gets approved while recording the show! -Sam talks about the “Easy Button” he learned while working with Jamf. He likes the thought of empowering the users to have them complete step 0 before calling support. -These conversations seem to always point to how it weaves into your managed services or hourly plans. And having clients wonder why they have you if things are working so well. -Joe also created a couple of great scripts to work with Watchman Monitoring functionality: — This script to easily "Adjust Watchman Monitoring Time Machine Warning", default 21 days. For those users who just can't seem to run a backup regularly whether by circumstance or habit. Previously used to connect remotely to adjust this, since it can't be changed remotely in the Monitoring Client web interface. Now we can deploy it remotely, even across multiple machines or an entire client! —Another script to "Adjust Watchman Monitoring Root Capacity Warning", default 95%. For those users who perpetually, or periodically, ride the edge of Apple's recommended best practice and you want to give them a bit more leeway. Again, it can't be changed remotely in the Monitoring Client web interface and we used to have to connect remotely to adjust this. -Jerry gets a call from a new client in a remote location and discovers a 2011 iMac that was fairly unresponsive. Jerry is tasked with the job of migrating to a new iMac. He sees an old version of TeamViewer on the computer and discovers a surprise! -Jerry & Joe discuss an episode of the CYBER podcast - Snowden on iPhone: with Android, patching landscape is a disaster because manufacturers discontinue phones quickly and don't continue providing software updates, and because phone vendors don't control chipset updates like for WiFi and cellular chips. This leaves many older phones vulnerable but in many different ways so there's no simple exploit or "skeleton key" for all devices. This mitigates the kind of widespread attack that can be developed for iPhone, since so many iPhones are running the same versions of iOS and have the same chips and firmware running on the chips. -A worrisome story about sharing sensitive data with others on Dropbox is shared by Joe. It leads him to think of a method of phishing or scamming end users: create phony Dropbox accounts, create shared folders, share some data with strangers "accidentally" in a folder with a generic name like “SECURE”. Listen as Joe talks about how he would set his trap. -Dave Provine brought up the SS7 vulnerability in the MacAdmins Slack, which was originally demonstrated at the Chaos Communication Congress hacker conference in 2014 and made some news on 60 Minutes in April 2016. It exploits vulnerabilities in a system called Signaling System No 7 (SS7), originally developed in 1975. So it's not just SIM hijacking that makes SMS a weak link. By hacking SS7, an attacker could silently snoop on SMS text messages, phone calls, and access phone location data. Yikes!

Topics: This show is brought to you commercial free, thanks to our Patreon sponsors. On this episode we welcome long time supporter of the show and owner of Watchman Monitoring, Allen Hancock -Some news for Allen and the team is that they have hired Ben Mason. You may know Ben from his excellent support at Gruntwork. -Hiring new staff and remote vs local employees becomes an interesting topic of discussion -Allen has a big announcement in that they are changing the way they handle Zendesk Tickets. Listen to find out more about Zendesk private ticket creation and how Watchman Monitoring takes full advantage of this.   -Watchman Monitoring can also work with Zendesk’s Essential Plan -Zendesk Private Ticket creation is the new feature that allowed this integration to happen -Looking for help with these features?  Watch the Watchman Monitoring webinar  -If you need quick assistance, visit http://watchmanmonitoring.com/schedule to set up a time for support.  Pro Services options are available as well. -Allen will be in Los Angeles for MacTech Conference 2018 Visit http://conference.mactech.com/go/ccp to find out about special pricing for CCP listeners -The Watchman Monitoring community forum has been recently revamped.  You will no longer receive emails from the forum unless you request to watch a topic or receive responses to your posts.  You can also vote on features. Visit http://community.watchmanmonitoring.com to be a part of the Watchman Monitoring community. Get involved!

Topics: -Joe is just about vagrant status as he gives us an update on his life on the road -Ashleigh has some troubles with her Air Pods and her model MacBook Pro -Apple hardware costs are making the guys wonder about new purchases -A conversation with a client with a “gaggle of Macs” about the upgrade path -Watchman Monitoring helps to generate customized reports either internally or for the client -As rumors swirl about an October hardware release, Jerry hopes for an iPad with a USB-C connection that can also be used as an external display. -PSA for Backblaze customers - upgrading to Mojave could cause Backblaze to stop backing up. Follow the article below to allow full disk access: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/mojave-permissions/ -1Password can still autofill credentials but can no longer execute a login (ie. pressing Return) in the latest version of Safari -Also in Safari 12, Citrix now has an issue running. One of Joe’s clients has this issue after upgrading on her own. Here is a post about the fix: https://discussions.citrix.com/topic/398482-ica-download-on-safari-12/ And a blog post from Citrix about the issue: https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2018/08/03/npapi-support-is-being-removed-from-safari-12/ -Jerry references MacBreak Weekly, where they mention an app called Focos, which uses computational photography to perform amazing edits on your photos -Jerry wants the new phone for “George Clooney selfie mode” -Joe has a client with a new domain that ends in .photography, which caused all sorts of issues as many apps don’t understand that it is a URL. His work entailed adding the domain to Google Search Console, along with adding variants, selecting defaults, and adjusting country/language settings. Here are Squarespace recommendations: https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205814568 -Joe shares a problem and solution for an issue in Mail app when composing a new email -Joe introduces yet another new segment: Joe's Corner Down by the River. Note that when removing ~/Library/Mail/V5/MailData/Envelope Index, Envelope Index-shm, Envelope Index-wal, ExternalUpdates.storedata, ExternalUpdates.storedata-shm, ExternalUpdates.storedata-wal, when rebuilding mail database, messages for IMAP accounts are re-downloaded from the server! Eats up limited cellular bandwidth.

Two in a row!!Super happy to be posing the second episode of Appitalize On Your Idea: The PodCast. Today's guest is Allen Hancock, founder of Watchman Monitoring.Allen and I discuss how Watchman Monitoring came to fruition. In his day job, Allen is an Apple Consultant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. During his day he found an issue that clearly needed to be solved. How can we check to make sure users backups are running? At the time there was no clear cut answer, so Allen went out and devised a way to do so. He had an employee who was able to help and when it got too much, he reached out to hire someone. While that person was going to teach Allen how to program, Allen ended up just outsourcing all the programming to him - SMART!Allen saw an issue and was able to solve it with a great program. If you are an IT consultant you should totally check out Watchman Monitoring. Listen to the whole interview below the jump.Links Mentioned During the Show:Watchman Monitoring - Allens productBackground Backup - Offsite backupSubscribe in iTunesFor more information check out Appitalize On Your Idea.